Nikolay Rimsky-Korsakov – Pierre Monteux – French music – Charles Münch

Rimsky-Korsakov - String Sextet - Quintet for piano & winds - Sheherazade - 
Kocian Quartet - Prague Wind Quartet - Ivan Klánský - Josef Klusoň - Michal Kaňka - London symphony orchestra - Pierre Monteux

Rimsky-Korsakov

If you got the previous Rimsky-Korsakov chamber music release by Praga Digitals, too bad: it is now reissued with the classic account of Scheherazade by Monteux in 1957… The Quintet is a very short and nice piece, but the Sextet is a little marvel, Mendelssohn style. The Scheherazade is a poised account. I personally tends to prefer more personal approaches (Stokowski, Svetlanov… and think the Kondrashin lecture is overrated by French critics),  but maybe this is one of the finest ever, a lesson for any conductor, every tone thrills you in this rather good stereo rendering. (Monteux will record it again with the San Francisco symphony).

Two superb reissues.

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Münch

Berlioz - Scherzo de la Reine Mab
Franck - Le chasseur maudit
Saint-Saëns - La princesse jaune - Le rouet d'Omphale
Debussy - Fêtes
Fauré - Pénélope - Prélude
Ravel - La valse
Roussel - Suite en fa

A “florilege”of French hits by Münch and the Boston  symphony. One of the rare internationally acclaimed French conductors with Monteux and Boulez. The Saint-Saëns’s Princess, Fauré and Roussel pieces are live recordings. Superb sound all along (recordings 1951 – 1961).
The Scherzo de la Reine Mab is stunning, Münch was certainly the best Berlioz interpreter(sorry Brits). A good account of Le chasseur maudit (The Accursed Hunter). Beautiful Saint-Saëns pieces. Vivid account of Fêtes. A rarer Pénélope prelude, rather wagnerian, superbe horn playing. La Valse has an inimitable chic. 
Finally the classic suite en fa by Roussel “Motor-driven”…

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